He's one of the most celebrated sports icons in the world, so if there's anyone who knows how the professional baller-male mind works, it's Shaquille O'Neal. The NBA icon and sports commentator has carved out a career steeped in all things basketball, and his children have even become formidable forces on the court. However, that doesn't mean that Shaq has big plans for his daughters to walk down the aisle with ballers as the proud father has made it clear that he prefers for them to keep away from NBA players.
“I want them to be fully educated or... fully independent,” the 48-year-old father of six told Us Weekly. “I want them to have most of those goals and once they get 18 on and they become little mini adults, I’m not going to be the dad that says, ‘Do this, do that.’ [I’ll] guide them in the right path.” He added, “In the perfect world, I’d like them to have a bachelors and masters and [be] going into their own field.”
Shaq was asked if he'd want his daughters—Taahirah, 24, Amirah, 18, and Me’arah, 14—to date NBA players and he answered, "Probably not." We can only imagine what Shaq has seen, and done, as a professional player, so he doesn't want his girls getting mixed up in that. Earlier this year, he told the publication that he'd prefer if his daughters began dating at 25-years-old, which may be a bit of a stretch.
[via]